Man on horseback mycelium on grain allows you to grow this rare species in your own garden. This species grows in the wild mostly in coniferous forests, especially pine forests. It develops in clusters on sandy soil overgrown with lichens. Man on horseback fruit bodies emerge in late autumn from September to December. They are relatively hard to find, since almost all of the fruit body grows underground and only a part of the cap sticks out of the soil.

Man on horseback or yellow knight is a delicious mushroom with a tender scent and sweet-nutty taste. It is particularly fitted for steamed and fried dishes and for marinades. Large, flat or wavy caps take on yellow-green or yellow-brown colour. Dense and thin gills come in different shades of yellow from pale to sulphur-yellow. You may confuse man on horseback with poisonous mushrooms, particularly with the deadly death cap. On contrary to the death cap this species does not have a volva at the stipe base, the stipe itself also has a shorter stem and dense gills. Particularly young mushrooms are similar to the deadly fungi, so please pick them up with utmost care.

The spawn offered in our store is ready-to-use. Choose a site between coniferous trees for man on horseback cultivation, the best conditions usually can be found in the neighbourhood of the young pines. Standard garden soil mixed with a large amount of peat or soil brought from the forest will work best in man on horseback cultivation. As soon as you have chosen the right site, dig three holes 30 - 40 cm wide and 15 cm deep. They should be located 10 times the diameter of the tree away from the trunk. The holes need to be filled up to the half with the previously prepared soil and place 1/3 of the spawn package onto it. Cover it with the rest of the soil. Tamp it down and abundantly water. Each hole should be watered with a bucket of water, to which you may add sugar that beneficially influences the development of the spawn. Cover the sites with a layer of moss, needles and small branches. In favourable conditions the fruit bodies should emerge in the first or second year of cultivation. The mycelium remains productive for 3 - 5 years.

There are growing instructions and the sow-by date printed on every spawn package sold in our garden store.